Oster 12-Speed Blender

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Although it offers a dozen speeds, the Oster 12-Speed Blender had middling results in our performance test. It did a decent job grinding coffee beans and making smoothies, but it earned average scores for chopping onions and below-average scores for making frozen drinks. In brushed nickel and red.

Manufacturer's warranty: Limited one year.

Reviewed: July 2010

Price When Reviewed: $37.99

Pros

Excellent at grinding coffee beans

Good at making smoothies

The jar is large (70 ounces)

A tamper is included for stirring ingredients as they blend

One of the few with automatic pulse on ice crushing and manual pulse on every other speed

The jar and its parts can go in the dishwasher

Cord storage

Manual contains illustrations and photos; full details for use are in the accompanying instructional DVD and four recipe booklets

Cons

After being cleaned in the dishwasher, the bottom of the blade assembly rusted

Cannot make a hot beverage, soup, or sauce that is hot enough to consume

Before you start blending you must carefully lock both the lid and the jar in place

When it's running, it makes a loud screeching noise

The jar has only one position, so it won't be easy for left-handed people to grab

We found it difficult to use the digital control pad, which has small buttons with lettering that's hard to see